How can I manage groups of inventory that are packaged and sold together (Packs)? 

1. Create the Pack Catalog Record

2. Create the Pack Bill of Materials

3. Create the Pack Inventory

Packs are a product type in Beacon allowing you to manage a group of items as well as the individual items in the group. Think of a package of 5 devices; Packs allow you to manage the package as well as the 5 devices it contains. 

Isn't that what a container is for? 

Containers do allow you to manage groups of inventory, but they are not sellable. Packs are sellable items. This also enables more flexibility accommodate construct pricing, whereby one price may be charged when a group of devices is being sold. 

Additionally, packs are created at the same time as the inventory inside them, they cannot be built using existing inventory, because these are considered finished good packaged items. 

Create your Pack in the Catalog

1. Navigate to the Catalog as an Admin in Beacon
2. Click "New Catalog Item"
3. Select "Pack" for the product type using the dropdown menu
4. Enter the Unique Catalog # for this type of Pack
5. Enter the Manufacturer
6. Associate Product Lines with the Catalog record, You may select as many as are relevant. 
7. Click "Next"
8. Fill out any Additional Information for this Pack, then click "Create". 

Create the Pack Bill of Materials

To be actionable, Packs must have a special type of Bill Materials assigned to them. This defines what combination of devices comprises the pack; in other words, what must the Pack contain in order to be considered complete? 

1. Navigate to the Bills of Materials section
2. Click "New BOM"
3. Change the Type to "Pack" using the dropdown menu
4. Create a Name for this BOM to help identify it in the future and distinguish it from other BOMs
5. Select the Catalog # you created for this Pack from the search menu 
6. In the last field in the popup, search for items to add to the BOM. Repeat until you've added all of the required items to the BOM.
7. Modify the quantities for each item until you have all of the contents of the Pack represented.
8. Click "Create". 

Create your Pack Inventory

Now that you've created the Catalog and BOM for these Packs, it's time to create your inventory. As of release, PACKS can only be created in the Bill of Materials screen for that pack and the component items must be created at the same time, you cannot pull from existing inventory. 

1. Navigate to the Bill of Materials screen and locate the BOM for that Pack Catalog you created in the last section. Click on it to open its detail screen.
   
   
2. Click "Create Packs"
3. Fill out the relevant product information for this pack: 
   1. Custody
   2. Pack Description
   3. Notes
   4. Tags
      
4. Next, fill in the Lot numbers for the items contained within the pack. These items will be created along with the pack, you may not pull from existing inventory to create the pack. 
   1. Then enter a quantity of how many Packs to create.
   2. If you must consume existing inventory in this pack, then create it through the normal Pack creation workflow and remove the items later via Stock Adjustment and leave notes for context. 
5. In the next screen enter any other production information for the pack, such as Price, Cost, UDI, Expiration date, etc. 
6. Click "Create" and your Packs will be created. 

Next, read about how to sell Packs here.